No verdict yet in cop's trial

Kingston — An Ulster County jury spent nearly five hours yesterday weighing charges of rape, sexual abuse and misconduct against a suspended Saugerties police officer, but didn't reach a verdict.

Paul Brooks

Kingston — An Ulster County jury spent nearly five hours yesterday weighing charges of rape, sexual abuse and misconduct against a suspended Saugerties police officer, but didn't reach a verdict.

Tyrone Chrisjohn walked out of the Ulster County Courthouse shortly after 4 p.m. But visiting Judge Roger McDonough of Albany told him to be back in court at 9 a.m. today.

Chrisjohn, 35, is accused of raping two teenage girls, 14 and 16 at the time of the incidents in 2004, and trying to force himself on a third girl, then 17. He was in uniform and on duty during the incidents, the girls said. That led to an additional charge of official misconduct.

Chrisjohn is suspended from duty and out of jail on bail.

During his closing statement, defense lawyer E. Stewart Jones of Troy waved a sheaf of work schedules from the Village of Saugerties Police Department at the jury.

According to the schedules, Chrisjohn had not worked the 3-11 p.m. shift at all in August, Jones said. The teens said Chrisjohn raped them one August night about 8:30 or 9 p.m.

The teens told wildly different accounts of the rapes, Jones told the jury. And the three accusers have filed lawsuits against the Village of Saugerties, the police and Chrisjohn. They want $1.25 million each, he said.

"The only just verdict, the only fair verdict, is not guilty," Jones said as he stood behind Chrisjohn at the defense table and rested his hand on Chrisjohn's shoulder.

Assistant District Attorney Kevin Harp urged jurors to reach a guilty verdict. The inconsistencies in the girls' stories were natural, he said, and Chrisjohn admitted he worked at times not on the schedule that Jones waved around.

Chrisjohn picked out vulnerable teens and preyed on them for sex, Harp said. Chrisjohn's own words — caught on tape in secret — convict him, the prosecutor said.

"What good is their word against mine? It is not what you know, it is what you can prove," Chrisjohn said on the tape.